{Edtech App: Yschool} A Blockchain and AI based App for K-12 Students Preparing for Competitive Exams

Image by tjevans from Pixabay

With online education coming into play in India, a steady shift in the coaching industry has also been seen, especially with Covid-19 induced social distancing. Students are increasingly going for online coaching to crack competitive exams, medical, non-medical, etc.

While online coaching allows students to prepare from home or anywhere with internet access, students miss the personal attention given by a physically-present teacher and peers. It’s necessary to blend the strengths of online coaching with offline coaching to create the best solution.

With this aim, edtech startup, Edusquare, has built ´Yschool – The Learning App´ to provide a comprehensive online solution for Class 9th to 12th students to crack competitive exams, like NTSE, NEET UG, JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, and BITSAT.

“We are committed to providing a complete solution to the students that focuses on their most important target, which is cracking the competitive examination,” Deepak Goyal, Co-founder and Managing Director, Edusquare, said in a statement.

AI and Blockchain

The platform leverages tech like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is the first organization in India to introduce blockchain-backed student incentivization with a social angle.

Yschool is a 360-degree app-based solution that provides recorded content lectures, live interactive sessions, practice quizzes and tests, practice assignments, and 24×7 doubt support. Plus, it provides WhatsApp groups for discussions to simulate the experience of a traditional coaching class.

Before and After Covid-19

Edusquare launched the app in January 2020 for its offline centre students. In March 2020, it made the app open for all kinds of students across the globe so that they could continue preparing for competitive exams despite the lockdown induced by COVID-19.

Even before COVID-19, Edusquare was doing paid projects with the state governments of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab using the Yschool app and hybrid models. The company will continue to do such projects in the future even after COVID-19.

Success So Far

Edusquare has been around for a while now. Of its existing offline batch, 25% students were selected in JEE Advanced Merit List, and 40% students were selected in medical colleges for MBBS. That’s six times the national average of coaching institutes for IITs and MBBS courses.

Yschool app has witnessed stupendous organic growth, having reached 60,000 downloads in October 2020 from a mere 3,000 in March 2020.

Yschool is entirely bootstrapped. The company hasn’t taken any external funding or bank loan. It has 2,000 plus reviews/ratings on the Play Store with an average 4.8 rating.

Future Plans

Apart from competitive exams, the app is also designed for the school curriculum. It has complete solutions for Class 9th to 12th live, while the content for Class 6th to 8th is in the works.

A new version of Yschool app is also soon to launch, with a new user interface and user experience that will allow students to socialize and interact with friends, challenge, compete, and compare test performances, and get badges through gamification to improve engagement.

Edusquare was founded by a team of IIT and MDI pass outs with over 50 years of cumulative experience in the education sector, namely, Deepak Goyal (IIT Delhi C SC. 2008), Tejpreet Singh (MDI 2009), Sivia Goyal (MDI 2013), Anand Arora (IIT Roorkee, 2006), Piyush Chhabra (Rochester University US), and Parag Arora (IIT Delhi 2008).

Navanwita Bora Sachdev

Navanwita is the editor of The Tech Panda who also frequently publishes stories in news outlets such as The Indian Express, Entrepreneur India, and The Business Standard